Paramount Pictures via Everett Collection
Here's a feat: taking what is likely the oldest, most well-known story in the world, and making a retelling feel inventive. Over the course of its two-and-a-half-hour runtime, Darren Aronofsky's Noah takes many forms — Tolkien-esque fantasy, trippy psychological thriller, merciless dissection of the dark points of abject faith — never feeling too rigidly confined to the parameters of the familiar tale that we've all experienced in the form of bedtime stories, religious education lessons, and vegetable-laden cartoons. As many forms as the parable has taken over the past few thousand years, Aronofsky manages to find a few new takes.
The director's thumbprint is branded boldly on Russell Crowe's Noah, a man who begins his journey as a simple pawn of God and evolves into a dimensional human as tortured as Natalie Portman's ballerina or Jared Leto's smack head. Noah's obsession and crisis: his faith. The peak of the righteous descendant of Seth (that's Adam and Eve's third son — the one who didn't die or bash his brother's head in with a rock), Noah is determined to carry out the heavenly mission imparted upon him via ambiguous, psychedelic visions. God wants him to do something — spoilers: build an ark — and he will do it. No matter what.
No matter what it means to his family, to his lineage, to his fellow man, to the world. He's going to do it. No matter what. The depths to which Aronofsky explores this simple concept — the nature of unmitigated devotion — makes what we all knew as a simplistic A-to-B children's story so gripping. While the throughline is not a far cry from the themes explored in his previous works, the application of his Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan ideas in this movie does not feel like a rehashing. Experiencing such modern, humane ideas in biblical epic is, in fact, a thrill-ride.
Paramount Pictures via Everett Collection
Although Aronofsky accesses some highly guttural stuff inside of his title character, he lets whimsy and imagination take hold of the world outside of him. Jumping headfirst into the fantastical, the director lines his magical realm with rock monsters — "Watcher" angels encased in Earth-anchored prisons as punishment for their betrayal of God — and a variety of fauna that range in innovation from your traditional white dove to some kind of horned, scaled dog bastardization.
But the most winning elements of Noah, and easily the most surprising, come when Aronofsky goes cosmic. He jumps beyond the literal to send us coursing through eons to watch the creation of God's universe, matter exploding from oblivion, a line of creatures evolving (in earnest) into one another as the planet progresses to the point at which we meet our tortured seafarer. Aronofsky's imagination, his aptitude as a cinematic magician, peak (not just in terms of the film, but in terms of his career) in these scenes.
With all this propped against the stark humanity of his story — not just in terms of Crowe's existential spiral, but in character beats like grandfather Methuselah's relationship with the youngsters, in little Ham's playful teasing of his new rock monster pet — Aronofsky manages something we never could have anticipated from Noah. It's scientific, cathartic, humane. Impressively, this age-old tale, here, is new. And beyond that feat, it's a pretty winning spin.
4/5
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Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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If when you saw Broken City in theaters and thought to yourself that the Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe-lead cat and mouse drama was "edgy and sexy and mysterious", well then you were on the same page as the film's co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. Because that's exactly how the Oscar-winning actress described the look and feel of the moody thriller in this behind-the-scenes Blu-ray featurette made exclusive to Hollywood.com.
In the clip, the cast and crew of Broken City — which arrives in on Blu-ray on April 30 — discuss how director Allen Hughes managed to pull off the classic stylish noir look in, or as costume designer Betsy Heimann described it: "a period feel in a modern world."
Watch the exclusive featurette below, which includes snippets from Hughes and Crowe, as well as a dissection of a particularly memorable scene in which Wahlberg's character falls off the wagon and stumbles down the street. According to Hughes, Wahlberg went off script and improvised "having a nervous breakdown" and that particular moment gave "the urgency and the essence of a noir film... [by]trying to make something out of nothing." Check it out:
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When one thinks of Keri Russell, "scream queen" isn't normally the first thought that comes to mind. Russell has made a name for herself as a cerebral dramatic actress, in shows like Felicity and on FX's latest drama, The Americans. But even the serious gals have to have fun sometimes, and that's why Russell signed on to star in Scott Stewart's sci-fi alien invasion horror flick, Dark Skies.
"I just read it and thought, 'that's going to work,' Russell says. "I knew it. I bought the family [from the film.] I cared about the family. I thought it was realistic, fun, and scary. I brought a group of my good girlfriends to the screening. I was like, 'I don't want to see that movie alone!' We brought beers and saw it, and we were just cackling with delight. It's that mix of fear, and loving it."
Russell's right about that fear — Hollywood.com also screened the movie (which goes for goosebumps and jumps rather than gore), and spent the latter half of the film curled up in a ball, eyes shut. Russell plays a mother of two, and when mysterious "happenings" (like hundreds of birds suicidally flying smack into their home) begin to terrorize the family, it becomes very clear that malevolent visitors have officially come to play. But these visitors are only seen in bits and terrorizing pieces until the final, dramatic conclusion, which was part of the allure for Russell.
"It's the possibility of something lurking that's scary," she says. "And it's pretty! It's artsy, and not just some gross chop-it-up movie."
Of course, this being a supernatural horror movie, there's always that one character who maddeningly denies what's happening until it's too late. And in Dark Skies' case, that's Daniel (Josh Hamilton), Russell's husband — but Russell, a real-life mom, says she wouldn't make that same mistake. "I would do anything to protect [my kids]," she says. "I would definitely believe in aliens, in a heartbeat. And Elizabeth [from The Americans] would kick the s*** out of them."
Err, not so sure about that. We've seen the not-so-little, not-so-green green men, and it would definitely take more than a few kicks to knock them down. Still, Russell says there's more to the film than what meets the eye — it's the aliens' ambiguous motivations that really get you thinking. "It's such a fun, believable, good scary movie," she says. "At its heart, it's a cool art movie. It's Poltergeist-y. The main thing is, why is this family being targeted? What do [the aliens] want specifically, and what will they do when they get it?"
You really don't want to know.
Dark Skies arrives in theaters on Friday, Feb. 22.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[Photo Credit: Dimension Films]
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FX's mission for The Americans — its very new, very adult, very ambitious Cold War spy drama — is to have audiences empathize with the KGB instead of our own people, for once. And while I'm not exactly trading in my rock, flag and eagle for a Budenovka, I am happily intrigued by the Jennings family, and their impossible-to-maintain lifestyle set up in the show's nearly perfect premiere. Elizabeth (Keri Russell) is a long-tortured soul, devoted to the motherland but struggling in her lonely position as hesitant wife and mother. Phillip (Matthew Rhys) is her affable arranged husband, who — after almost two decades — is realizing that this America place might not be so bad, after all.
We meet the Jennings family during a moment of great change. After a long stasis, living relatively boring lives as the KGB sleeper agents next door, they ignite fury in the 1981 Reagan administration when they manage to kidnap and murder a Russian defector in their own backyard. And the Jennings' own backyard has also been violated, as FBI Agent extraordinaire Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) has moved in across the street; already suspicious (rightfully, but more on that later) of his new neighbors. All of this danger — and the existence of their two happy, unwitting children, Henry and Paige — makes Phillip want to collect some cash and defect, but Elizabeth's fortitude and painful backstory (slowly revealed throughout the episode) puts a dent in all that.
It's also this painful backstory, and the clear and present danger, that finally ignites some fire in their ice cold relationship. From what we see of Elizabeth's lifestyle in the pilot, it's easy to see why she's so distant from her husband: he chases bad guys, manipulates unintelligent FBI employees, and takes the kids shopping, while her job description includes prostituting herself for Mother Russia, then going home to bake brownies and edit homework assignments with a smile. It's awful. Within the first five minutes we see her giving a blow job to a sleazy Justice Department blowhard, to gather information on the aforementioned traitorous defector. They find him, of course, but a series of unfortunate events — mainly their comrade getting stabbed — leads to a blown mission.
"The mission comes first," Elizabeth says, as their friend bleeds out in the backseat of their Oldsmobile. Right away, we know she's the dangerous-slash-damaged one. But Phillip is a bit softer, and wants to take the poor guy to an area hospital to give him a fighting chance. Either way, their bickering leads to a literal missed boat — the vessel going to Mother Russia is headed out to sea by the time they arrive at the docks, leaving them with a hogtied millionaire defector in the trunk of their car. In the garage. Where the children play.
Why would this bring them closer? Because, as we see in a flashback, this particular defector raped Elizabeth back in the '60s, when she was a mere cadet going through training. Perks of the job, he explains to her, in a half-assed "please don't kill me" apology. Phillip had wanted to turn him in for cash and run away, but when he realizes what the man had done ("How did he hurt you?" he cries. "How did he hurt you?" Swoon.) he snaps his neck. Nothing brings a couple together quite like rightful-revenge-based-murder, so they indulge in a steamy lovemaking session after getting rid of the body. But the real bonding moment comes in the scene where they reveal their true backstories — another flashback reveals that the couple were told not to tell the other of their real, Russian identities. Only the fake American ones, to further preserve their covers. By finally, after nearly two decades together, they seem to be toying with the idea of actually loving and trusting each other: something that clearly wasn't happening before, as we also learn that Elizabeth had told her handler that Phillip couldn't be trusted due to his mall-loving, cowboy boot-wearing tendencies. She changes her mind after their late-night bonding, so Phillip is off the hook with the KGB.
However, he is not off the hook with Stan. Phillip learns through his unwitting FBI source (he poses as someone who monitors agency activity, and this woman stupidly obliges) that the agency is looking for a gold '77 Oldsmobile, after the disappearance of the defector. Stan sees the very same '77 Oldsmobile in the Jennings' garage, and does some late-night snooping. He doesn't find anything — the body has already been removed — but something in him knows that something was amiss with this family.
So, all in all, it was a great night for family bonding, but a terrible night for KGB agent safety. Stan's first priority now is to find out who killed this defector, and with Phillip newly committed to his wife (and, by proxy, Russia) their clean escape is now completely off the table. If that's not good drama, I don't know what is — and the phenomenal premiere performances by all three leads earned The Americans a spot on my (very full) DVR.
Yes, Elizabeth is cold and miserable, but her backstory and newfound appreciation for her husband makes her a very solid lead. And she's actually pretty comical when she has to endure her children's homework assignments, which largely s*** all over her beloved country. When they talk about how great it is that Americans landed on the moon first, Elizabeth suggests that just getting to space was the true accomplishment (ha!). It's sad, because she can't truly bond with her Americanized children (she wants to turn them into socialists, but Phillip accurately points out that that doesn't really happen in the American school system), but also really funny to watch her not-so-casually suggest that Russia ain't so bad. In the same vein, watching Phillip joyfully adapt to our American ways — toe-stepping to country music in a department store and considering cowboy boots, to the mortification of his teen daughter — makes him very likable, which balances out some of Elizabeth's iciness.
By all means — give this one a shot. Do it for Mother Russia, and for the sake of good drama.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: FX]
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America, meet the Jennings family. Jennings family, meet — oh wait, no. Don't. Because the Jennings family (minus the two kiddos, who have no idea) are Cold War KGB agents with a burning hatred of everything, well, American. Their work lives are brutal — in just two episodes we've witnessed rape, stabbing, and poison, as well as enough deception to make Emily from Revenge's head spin. Their home lives, however, are anything but: though the marriage is arranged, the love is growing, and the two kids plus the white picked fence and cover jobs (travel agents) make them seem like the most boring bunch on the block. This is the basis of FX's new drama The Americans, a thrilling and thought-provoking ride that happens to premiere tonight. Here's the 101:
Actors You'll Know: Ms. Felicity herself, Keri Russell, stars as the tormented matriarch Elizabeth. She's fantastic. Matthew Rhys of Brothers &amp; Sisters is her slightly more pro-American husband Philip, and Noah Emmerich from everything ever (most recently Super 8 and The Walking Dead) is their new CIA analyst neighbor. Ruh-roh.
You'll Like It If: You wish Alias was more realistic, and set in a time when spy drama was a real prevalent thing. Also, if you cried during Good Night, and Good Luck.
Top 5 Reasons You Might Want to Watch: You wish Emily's Revenge schemes had more blow jobs (you heard me). You like strong female leads with inwardly tortured souls. You like shows with non-stop dramatic tension (again: CIA agent next door), and fake Russian accents. You're a Breaking Bad fan, and miss having a show on the air where the parents keep a double life hidden from their children. You're a Communist.
5 Reasons You Might NOT Want to Watch: You're still not over the hair incident... you know the one. You don't like to think and watch TV at the same time. You don't like to hear the name Ronald Reagan. You're skeezed out by work-related blow jobs. You hate Communists.
Love it, or Leave it?: Love it if you're looking for quality, thought-provoking content to spruce up your Hump Day. Leave it if you watch Two and a Half Men, just because. I mean, you won't get it.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: FX]
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Typically, throughout the life of a long-running TV drama (or dramedy, or high-brow comedy), we see main characters go through massive internal changes. The most obvious example would be Breaking Bad's Walter White, who morphed from goofy science teacher to terrifying meth kingpin in about a year. Then there's someone like Nurse Jackie, who — albeit initially unwillingly — recently made the decision to face her decade-spanning addiction and be a better mother. The list goes on and on, but one guy who will likely never make it is Californication's Hank Moody — the emotional terrorist and lifelong black hole idolized by college males who want to make it big and sleep around in Los Angeles, worldwide. He returned last night for his sixth go-round, and though everything should be different — last season ended with his broken-hearted ex (Natalie Zea) poisoning him in an attempted double-suicide — it's just not. Hank is depressed, destructive, self-indulgent, and incapable of surviving without the help of the people who still somehow manage to love him.
”I think it’s a temptation over a long-running series to try to reinvent the character, when in fact the character is the essence of the show,” David Duchovny said in a recent interview with Hollywood.com. “If you change the character and reinvent it, you’re actually making a different show. As fun as it may be for the actor, it’s kind of a dissolution of the bond you’ve made with your audience." Duchovny has a point — completely eliminating his character's self-destructive tendencies would be a fatal mistake, but when you get as far as Season 6, there can only be so many failed interventions and sordid affairs before at least a solid attempt at change becomes necessary.
Last night's premiere, for the unseasoned viewer, did show a drastic change — it flashed back and forth between Hank and Karen's charming early courtship, and Hank's current state, where he was too disgusted with himself to be in the same room with her. Which was actually pretty strange, because in five seasons Hank has conducted many affairs, ruined his familial relations via drinking and drug use, etc etc, but the fact that his ex-girlfriend ended up being a crazy pants who tried to poison him was like, the one thing that was not his fault. The guilt he feels over her death (as he was the last one to break her heart) is completely natural, but dealing with it via another Hank Moody meltdown that will inevitably lead to him losing everything but Runkle is tiresome.
This is why the end of the episode, which found Hank waking up for a meeting in a ridiculously expensive rehab, was a relief. An entire season of Hank's drunken escapades is the very last thing this show needs. Watching him try to confront his issues head on — while trying to launch an absurd Broadway musical — has the potential to be very interesting, as well as revitalizing for this aging show. Besides, there is just as much comedy to be found in the rehabilitation process as there is in the downward spiral.
Which brings us to the vomiting in cocaine incident: Runkle managed to trick Hank into a meeting on rockstar Atticus Fetch (Tim Minchin)'s private plane. Fetch, so far, has the potential to bring great comedy — if they manage to not turn him into an Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) parody. Anyway, Fetch wanted to turn Hank's book "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" into a Broadway rock opera, an idea that the shitfaced Hank absolutely hated. He hated it so much, in fact, that he projectile vomited onto Fetch's giant mount of cocaine, which probably means he owes him a favor.
All in all, it was a solid — if well-tread — return to the series. The addition of the rock opera plot line, Fetch's antics, and Hank's journey through rehab should lead to good things down the line. After all, a little change, as they say, can do you good.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: David M. Russell/Showtime]
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Aw, another year? Really? More taxes, annoying celebrity Instagram photos, and Taylor Swift boyfriend scandals? That's not what we signed up for when we totally bought into that Mayan Apocalypse thing, universe. We just don't know if we can take another Swifty break-up. We'd take the Rapture any day.
Still, there are some legitimate reasons to be excited that we made it out okay, even without John Cusack's help. From the return of a beloved, quirky sitcom to one of the most badass blockbuster concepts ever, behold our top 10 reasons to be excited for 2013:
Big-Screen Blockbusters
Pacific Rim: Pacific Rim is a Guillermo del Toro-directed sci-fi thriller, where the likes of Jax from Sons of Anarchy (Charlie Hunnam), Stringer Bell from The Wire (Idris Elba), and Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Charlie Day) team up to create giant, man-controlled robots to fight the alien monsters who sprouted from a crack in the ocean. If you're not already peeing yourself, we can't help you.
Man of Steel: What our world needs most — even more than its own Superman — is a good movie about Superman. After the disastrous Superman Returns incident of 2006, we were hesitant when it was announced that Henry Cavill (The Tudors) would put on the suit for yet another remake. But when we learned that Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark... you get our drift) would produce, and when the stellar cast assembled, we felt better. Then the trailer came out, and now we're just ridiculously excited.
Star Trek Into Darkness: We really enjoyed the franchise's first go-round back in 2009, and having J.J. Abrams back at the helm — as well as American Horror Story baddie Zachary Quinto as Spock — gives us confidence for the sequel. Oh, and Benedict Cumberbatch plays the villain, so there's that.
NEXT: Small-screen wondersReally Good TV
The Following: We've already seen the pilot for the new Kevin Williamson drama, which stars James Purefoy as a behind-bars serial killer with a terrifying worldwide following (get it?) and Kevin Bacon as the FBI agent who has no choice but to stop him. It. Is. Terrifying. Also, it's unlike anything you've ever seen on network TV. Do give it a shot — unless you enjoy sleeping at night.
Arrested Development: New episodes of Arrested Development seven years after its cancellation? Come on! This must be an illusion, Michael. But it's true — production began last summer, and 12-15 episodes (featuring cameos by beloved guest stars like Liza Minnelli, Henry Winkler, Mae Whitman, and Judy Greer) will premiere on Netflix early this year. But one major question remains — whatever happened to Steve Holt?
Bates Motel: A weekly look into the relationship between Psycho's resident psycho (Norman Bates) and his mother, starring the kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Freddie Highmore) and movie star Vera Farmiga? Sounds pretty cool. Add some enticing trailers and the fact that it's produced by Lost guru Carlton Cuse, and we're sold.
The Americans: FX has proven itself to be a go-to network for quality drama (we're talking to you, Sons of Anarchy, Justified, and American Horror Story), and the idea of a show about Cold War KGB agents posing as everyday Americans is pretty awesome — especially when you throw in Keri Russell as the main agent, who is in an arranged marriage with another agent (Matthew Rhys). Oh yeah, and they have kids who have no idea that their parents could be activated at any second.
NEXT: From the page to the screen (finally)
Our Favorite Books, As Movies
The Great Gatsby: “He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” Sigh. We love you, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and we're hoping that Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Baz Luhrmann and co. do you justice. If not, that'd be a bigger crime than hitting Myrtle with a car.
Ender's Game: Here's a reason to stick around until November: A big-screen adaptation of Orson Scott Card's devastating sci-fi novel Ender's Game! The story of a brilliant boy whose childhood is stolen when he's picked to save the world from aliens has been haunting parents and kids alike for generations, and we can't wait to see what director Gavin Hood can do with it.
World War Z: Sorry, Walking Dead — we love you, but Max Brooks' World War Z is arguably the greatest work of zombie fiction in the land. The things human beings will do for survival — and they ultimately do survive — when faced with fear, abandonment, and uncertainty are explored via multiple eyewitness accounts told to a U.N. employee in the novel. The film is taking a different approach — the U.N. employee (played by Brad Pitt) isn't trying to explore the catastrophe after the fact, he's the tried and true action hero trying to save the day. We like the first idea better, but are excited to see what Marc Forster has done with the source material.
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
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This article contains major spoilers for Les Misérables.
If you're like me and grew up listening to and watching Les Misérables, you're likely bringing a lot baggage to this week's movie adaptation. Shedding expectations is key to watching something you treasure evolve into new media, and it's the same with the time-honored musical. Legend or not, to work as a movie, it had to be tinkered with, had to be pushed and challenged more than in any of its theatrical stagings.
So how did it fare? Prepare to geek out beat by beat to Les Misérables.
2012 will go down as a year of cinematic innovation, starting with Peter Jackson's divisive "48 frames per second" filming technique, used to make the fantasy worlds of The Hobbit more realistic. Tom Hooper attempted the same feat in Les Misérables, stripping away the expected glossy exteriors of a movie musical by recording all of the songs live on set. Like the high frame rate projection, the purposefully imperfect style is instantly noticeable and hard to swallow after decades of big screen musicals training our ears. In the film's opening number, "Look Down," we see the imprisoned Jean Valjean and his fellow chain gang inmates pulling ships into the docks. It doesn't get much worse. The number booms like the show, but in its strive for reality, the voices of the singers are overwhelmed by the orchestra. Turns out, it's not easy to sing when waves are splashing in your face and you're pulling an enormous ship to harbor. The number sets the stage for the rest of the picture: in the theatrical version, the instruments and voices work as one. Here, they're at battle. It's hard to fully enjoy "Look Down" because the number works as a testing ground for the style.
As is the case in the stage show, Les Mis works best when the focus is on Valjean. Every character gets a big, memorable song, but each one of Valjean's beats packs an especially emotional punch (which explains why the second half of nearly every incarnation tapers off until the final moments). My biggest fear going into the film was Hugh Jackman. The diehard Colm Wilkinsonian that I am worried that the Wolverine star was too young, too Hollywood, for the role. Unlike many of the men who have played Valjean on stage, Jackman's voice is airer and under strain from the harsh conditions (as he mentioned in Hollywood.com's interview, the scenes in the beginning of the film were shot at the top of a mountain in freezing weather — not exactly the ideal setting for a Broadway musical). Jackman makes the part of Valjean his own, and I fought my brain's urge to yearn for the phrasing established by the show. That's the whole point of on-set singing — let the actors perform the songs, not simply regurgitate them like they're on stage at the 10th Anniversary Concert. Jackman discovers a broken version of Valjean that's never been accomplished on stage in numbers like the prologue and "Valjean's Soliloquy." Plus, it's nice they threw Wilkinson a bone and brought him in to play the Bishop of Digne.
Floating with the ripped up parole papers eight years into the future, Tom Hooper's vision for the factory of Montreuil-sur-Mer is stunning and stark. "At the End of the Day" sticks mostly to the theatrical orchestration, albeit with fewer voices (logical, as there aren't that many people working at the factory). It's simultaneously fresh and familiar, the catty torturing of Fantine even more terrifying when depicted in the "real world." After the number, every Les Mis fan discovered a bit of a shocker: the blueprints had been tinkered with. Fantine's firing leads into new glimpses of Javert arriving to town, conversing with Valjean, the runaway cart that leads to a suspicious act of strength, and the raunchy "Lovely Ladies." These were necessary improvements — only in seeing the movie does one realize how silly it is to feature Fantine's big number, "I Dreamed a Dream," before her descent into hell. Beefing up Valjean and Javert's intertwined relationship is also key, although clunky, with the cacophonous spoken/sung dialogue written for the film never quite fitting in with the previously penned material. Though with the gentlemen out of the way, it's Anne Hathaway's show to steal. "Lovely Ladies" is less of a showstopper than it is on stage, but it paves the way for the tremendous "I Dreamed a Dream," a one-shot, close-up rendition that shatters any known recording. We've never seen a Fantine who had to sing through tears and a runny nose. It all adds to the impact of the song.
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Les Misérables lost me a bit around "Who Am I?," a number that needs just as much oomph as "I Dreamed a Dream." A song of redemption, Valjean's second introspective soliloquy ends with him closing his conversation with God and shouting to the masses. The film version plays it surprisingly one-note, once again featuring Valjean in one room, speak-singing until he finally walks over to the court to reveal his true identity. Hooper and Jackman side with realism over theatrical, but the number needed the boost. It needed a note that could resonate with the reveal of Valjean's scarlet letter, the "24601" prison tattoo. We didn't even get that reveal! Hooper has an amazing eye for bold framing, but where this number falls short — and where the movie does as a whole — is in innovative staging.
Though as soon as Les Mis inspires talk of lackluster blocking, then comes Fantine's death and "The Confrontation." What could have been rigid feels well-timed and organic, Valjean and Javert swordfighting during their musical duel. Russell Crowe's monotone speak-singing works when he's given meaty drama to tear apart, and "The Confrontation," a literal song fight scene, is magic.
The next chunk of Les Mis may have been the biggest surprise. After "Turning," young Cosette's whispy "Castle in the Cloud" is my least favorite song in the show. Forcefully sympathetic, the despairing tune is like nails on a chalkboard. In the film, it's actually quite lovely, with Isabelle Allen owning the song with the perfect touch of sadness. Her whisper of "Cosette, I love you very much," gave me chills — sorry every other girl who had to perform this on stage like a fifth grade recital. Allen was mesmerizing.
The other surprise: "Master of the House" as a low point of the film. A much needed injection of comedy falls flat in Hooper's version, with Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter delivering surprisingly low energy as the lovable scumbag pair, the Thénardiers. The number feels entirely rushed, skipping over the drunken debauchery choruses to get on with the rest. It's a causal affair, both Cohen and Bonham (two performers who know how to properly play big and wild) delivering a hushed rendition of the rowdy number; the editing turns it into a jumbled sausage fit for serving at the pair's inn. Like Crowe as Javert, both work better in the intermittent sing-speak pats (like the hilarious "The Bargain"), but in a moment when the film needs a boost, they fizzle out.
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As in the show, the random arrival of Javert into Valjean's life never really works, but I appreciate conjuring up a sequence in which our redemptive convict must flee from his pursuer. The chase scene answers the lingering question of how Javert continues to miss Valjean time after time, and how Cosette and her father figure end up in Paris. It also sets up the new number, "Suddenly," a sweet lullaby that fits nicely into Valjean's song book. While it's not a time in the show that needs beefing up (a new song in Act II for Valjean or anything for Older Cosette would have been appreciated), "Suddenly" isn't an egregious addition to the sacred text thanks to Jackman's gentle high range.
Thanks to the enhanced escape from Montfermeil, Javert's "Stars" receives the buildup it deserves. Unfortunately, it can't be devoured by Crowe's nasally singing voice. The actor lights up the speak-singing but flatly mumbles "Stars" — another rushed number. Maybe I can't shake memories of Philip Quast, but Javert's songs demand a soldier's ferocity and the gleam from a twitching eye that comes with years of obsession. Crowe looks like he just showed up for work.
Hooper and screenwriter William Nicholson take necessary liberties with the fragmented stretch of "Éponine's Errand," "ABC Cafe/ Red and Black," "In My Life," "A Heart Full of Love," "The Attack on Rue Plumet," and "On My Own." Let's face it: the show doesn't handle it smoothly either, Cosette and Marius only crossing paths for the first time in this chance meeting of Valjean, the Thénardiers, Éponine, and Javert. If the movie suffers from weaving all of these moments into one is that it feels as claustrophobic as in a theater. With a rotating stage with sets in motion, we end up traveling more in the stage version than in the movie — a mind-blogging feat.
What really works throughout all the confusion is Eddie Redmayne's Marius, Aaron Tevit's Enjolras, Daniel Huttlestone's Gavroche, and the students of the revolution. Truth: Marius never entirely works for me as a character in the stage productions, reduced to a heartthrob who dabbles in political mumbo jumbo in order to be put into the thick of danger when the time is right. Redmaybe brings him to life. He doesn't sound like a formal singer and it allows him to avoid placation by the material. He's a real person! He bonds with his buddies in the bar and it creates a warm atmosphere like real friendships do. And even though Cosette is still just arm candy in the film version of Les Misérables (and extra vibrato-y in the hands of Amanda Seyfried), Marius feels like a man who struggles with his rebellious agenda and love at first sight. "A Heart Full of Love" really plays.
I know Les Mis fans love them some Éponine, another latter half character that never amounts to more than a hamfisted emotional pawn. Samantha Barks does not help this matter in the big screen translation — a beautiful voice isn't the only requirement for Les Misérables. She packs one, coy and playful with Marius and cutting loose in her big number "On My Own." Sadly, she's still in stage mode and her style doesn't translate to the intentionally rusty tactics of on-set singing. It's too good, she's too bright. The production cranked up the rain on all of her numbers, and it feels like a tactic to mask her over-the-top crying.
The weirdest movie moment of 2012: Jackman's Valjean running to Seyfried's Cosette's aid, bare chest open and exuding sexual tension. The moment creeped me out so much, "One Day More" is a bit of a fuzzy memory. Okay, maybe the awkward scene wasn't that distracting, but Les Misérables' Act I finale is a wildly choppy experience, as loud as the stage version minus the unity. The movie had the impossible task of mimicking the play and the cross-cutting style doesn't bellow in the same way as a full ensemble number.